Speaker 1: Helping leaders motivate their people to a higher level of
Speaker 1: performance through strong human relations, team building and golachieving. This
Speaker 1: is the seven Minute Leadership Podcast with your host Paul Fellovledo.
Speaker 2: Hello everyone, and welcome to the seven Minute Leadership Podcast.
Speaker 2: It's episode six forty nine. Today we're talking about something
Speaker 2: that can quietly take down even the strongest organization, your
Speaker 2: supply chain. Most leaders do not think about their supply
Speaker 2: chain until it fails, until a shipment does not arrive,
Speaker 2: until a key vendor goes silent, until prices spike overnight
Speaker 2: and your margins disappear, and then it becomes urgent. Here's
Speaker 2: the problem. If you are reacting to supply chain chaos,
Speaker 2: you are already behinds. Proofing your supply chain is not
Speaker 2: about spreadsheets. It is about leadership discipline. So let me
Speaker 2: start here. Every supply chain has pressure points, every single one.
Speaker 2: The question is whether you know where yours are. Too
Speaker 2: many leaders assume stability. They assume their top vendor will
Speaker 2: always deliver. They assume global conditions will remain predictable. They
Speaker 2: assume their customers will be patient, and assumptions are not strategy.
Speaker 2: If you want a crisis proof your supply chain. You
Speaker 2: have to lead it like it can fail tomorrow. First,
Speaker 2: map your real dependencies, not the ones in the annual report,
Speaker 2: the real ones. Who is your single source supplier? What
Speaker 2: product do you absolutely need to operate? Which component has
Speaker 2: no backup? What country does it come from? How long
Speaker 2: would it take to replace? If you don't know those
Speaker 2: answers off the top of your head, you are not
Speaker 2: leading your supply chain. You are renting it. Crisis proofing
Speaker 2: starts with visibility. Second, eliminate single points of failure. If
Speaker 2: one vendor going down can shut down your operations, that
Speaker 2: is not a vendor relationship. That is a liability. Dual
Speaker 2: sourcing is not paranoia. It is protection. Yes, it might
Speaker 2: cost a little more, Yes, it may require more coordination.
Speaker 2: That is leadership. You pay a small premium for stability,
Speaker 2: so you do not pay a massive price during a disruption. Third,
Speaker 2: build inventory strategy, not inventory panic. There is a difference
Speaker 2: between hoarding and planning. Smart leaders identify critical items and
Speaker 2: create buffer stock based on risk, not emotion. What would
Speaker 2: a already day disruption look like? What about sixty What
Speaker 2: would that cost you in revenue, reputation and morale. Inventory
Speaker 2: is not waste if it protects continuity. Fourth, strengthen vendor
Speaker 2: relationships before you need them. Do not treat suppliers like
Speaker 2: transaction machines. Treat them like partners. When crisis hits, vendors
Speaker 2: prioritize the customers who communicate, who pay on time, who
Speaker 2: respect the relationship. Leadership matters here. Your reputation travels. If
Speaker 2: you squeeze every dollar out of a supplier during stable times,
Speaker 2: do not expect loyalty when supply titans. Fifth scenario plan
Speaker 2: like a realist. What happens if shipping lanes slow down?
Speaker 2: What happens if tariffs spike? What happens if labor shortages
Speaker 2: hit your distributor? What happens if demand doubles overnight. You
Speaker 2: do not need to predict the exact crisis. You need
Speaker 2: to build mental flexibility. Write out three worst case scenarios,
Speaker 2: walk your team through them, identify weaknesses, and fix what
Speaker 2: you can now. This is where red key leadership shows
Speaker 2: up most days. Supply chain decisions feel routine. That is
Speaker 2: black key behavior. It is normal operations. Then there are
Speaker 2: moments when a shipment delay, a regulatory shift, or a
Speaker 2: geopolitical event changes the risk profile instantly that is a
Speaker 2: red key moment. In red key moments, you do not freeze.
Speaker 2: You do not delegate blindly. You step in, gather facts fast,
Speaker 2: communicate clearly, and make decisive moves. Your credibility is built
Speaker 2: in those supply chain moments. Sixth, align finance operations. Too often,
Speaker 2: operations want redundancy and finance wants lean margins. That tension
Speaker 2: is real. Your job as a leader is to balance
Speaker 2: resilience with profitability. Ask this question in your next executive meeting.
Speaker 2: What is the cost of being wrong? If you cut
Speaker 2: inventory too tight and the disruption hits, what does that
Speaker 2: cost lost customers, overtime, rush, shipping, brand damage. Now compare
Speaker 2: that to the cost of holding strategic reserves. Crisis proofing
Speaker 2: is not about fear. It is about intelligent risk tolerance. Seventh,
Speaker 2: Communicate early and honestly. If you see a disruption forming,
Speaker 2: tell your customers before they feel it. Transparent leadership builds trust.
Speaker 2: Silence builds suspicion. When customers understand the challenge and see
Speaker 2: you managing it proactively, they stay with you. When they
Speaker 2: find out late and feel blindsided, they look elsewhere. Your
Speaker 2: supply chain is not only operational, It is reputational Eighth,
Speaker 2: audit your supply chain annually like it's a fire drill.
Speaker 2: Run exercises, simulate vendor loss, test backup systems, review contracts,
Speaker 2: reassess international exposure. Most leaders audit finances more often than
Speaker 2: supply chain exposure. That is backwards revenue is dependent on
Speaker 2: supply continuity. And let me be clear about something. You
Speaker 2: cannot eliminate risk, but you can reduce fragility. Fragile organizations
Speaker 2: break under pressure. Resilient organizations bend and adapt. Crisis proofing
Speaker 2: your supply chain is not glamorous. It will not trend
Speaker 2: on social media, it will not earn applause. It will
Speaker 2: keep your doors open when others are scrambling. And that
Speaker 2: is leadership. So if you take seven minutes today, map
Speaker 2: your top three supply dependencies, identify one single point of failure,
Speaker 2: and start a conversation about it with your team. Do
Speaker 2: not wait for headlines to force your hand. You have
Speaker 2: to lead ahead of the crisis. Crisis proofing your supply
Speaker 2: chain is not about fear, It is about responsibility. This
Speaker 2: has been the seven minute Leadership podcast, and I thank
Speaker 2: you for listening.
Speaker 1: For more. Paul fell of Alito Podcasts visit Paulfellowalito dot com,